How much is a billion dollars? Most of us are unable
to comprehend such a stash. But to get your mind around a billion, think of it
like this: Suppose you had a billion dollars and you spent $3,000 of it
every day. Wow, you’d be living high on the hog! So, spending at that
rate, how long would it take you to go through your billion bucks? Get
ready, Methuselah: One thousand years! This gives some perspective on that money-gobbling
war machine we call the Pentagon, which spends more than a billion of our
tax dollars every single day. And that doesn’t count fighting wars!
If we actually use the military, Congress must shovel many more billions
into the Pentagon’s maw. For example, President George W.
Bush’s war of lies in Iraq is now chewing up an extra $5.6 billion
every month. The sheer volume of our military spending is absurd.
First, the Pentagon’s basic annual budget of $500 billion is
quadruple the military spending of all of our potential enemies combined,
from Cuba to China. Worse, the Pentagon treats money like pocket lint. You
and I are paying for weapons that don’t work and aren’t needed,
for ridiculous multibillion-dollar toys such as Star Wars, for massive
waste and gross fraud by military contractors, and for a bloated military
hierarchy that has 225,000 officers — one for every five soldiers. Feeding this glutton has led to a perversion of our
nation’s real security needs. While throwing money at the Pentagon,
our so-called leaders have ignored the upkeep on America’s essential
infrastructure, shortchanged education, ignored health-care needs, and
generally failed to provide for the common good. To help fight this perversion and build a responsible
Pentagon budget, call Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities:
212-243-3416.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2005 – Jan 4, 2006.
